USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Petersham > An address delivered in Petersham, Massachusetts, July 4, 1854, in commemoration of the one hundredth anniversary of the incorporation of that town > Part 8
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Harvard University, 1792.
John Jackson
Dartmouth College,
1792.
William Ward
Dartmouth College,
1792.
Paul Grout
Dartmouth College,
1793.
George Grout
Dartmouth College, 1795.
Thomas Barron
Harvard University,
1796 .. 1802.
Samuel Willard *
Harvard University,
1803.
Daniel Bigelow, jun.
Williams College,
1803.
Lewis Bigelow
Williams College,
1803.
Abiathar Hopkins
Dartmouth College,
1806.
Hutchins Hapgood .
Dartmouth College,
1813.
Aaron Brooks, jun.
Brown University,
1817.
Samuel Ward Chandler Harvard University,
1822.
Fisher Ames Foster
Middletown College,
John Wells Foster
Middletown College, -
George Grout Hapgood
Union College,
1830 ..
Daniel Bigelow Parkhurst
Yale College,
1836.
Charles Grosvenor Goddard .
Amherst College, 1841.
Francis Augustus Brooks
Harvard University, 1842.
Andrew Jackson Wheeler
Amherst College, 1846.
Mr. Willard in 1826, and Mr. Hapgood in 1852, received cach the degree of " S.T.D."
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Elisha Hammond
Dartmouth College,
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The first four on the above list were sons of Rev. Aaron Whitney. Some notices of them may be found upon pre- ceding pages.
WILLIAM AMHERST BARRON was the oldest son of William Barron, Esq .; was a Tutor in Mathematics and Natural Philoso- phy at Cambridge from 1793 to 1800. He had a remarkable faculty of communicating knowledge distinctly to persons of com- mon apprehension. It is believed, that, after leaving Cambridge, he was employed in some branch of instruction under the patro- nage of the General Government. He died in 1825, at the age of fifty-seven, having never been married.
JOIN CHANDLER, jun., was a son of John Chandler, Esq. He was engaged in various business, especially in agriculture and mer- chandise. For thirty years, more or less, he and his brother, and one or two other men, were connected in a firm extending its operations to several different towns; and John was the mainspring of its action. In his early life, he was distinguished for sound judgment, quick discernment, and great activity. Enterprising and public-spirited, he was justly regarded as a useful citizen. In the latter part of his life, Mr. Chandler's mind lost its equipoise, and he died in the Hospital for the Insane at. Worcester, in 1846. (See page 80.)
RICHARD WHITNEY, the third son of Dr. Ephraim Whitney, was a man of superior talents, and uncommon aptitude for teach- ing. He studied law, and entered on his profession in Brattle- borough, Vt., with fair prospects of a brilliant career ; but he fell a lamented victim of that well-known destroyer, by whose ravages the community was, and still is, deplorably afflicted, - a destroyer so well known that it need not be named. He died in 1806.
JONATHAN GROUT, jun., was the oldest son of Hon. Jonathan Grout. After leaving college, he taught for a time; and "to his thorough and effective mode of teaching some of the most impor- tant rudiments of our language," writes Rev. Dr. Willard, " I was more indebted than to that of any other man." For many subse- quent years, he was engaged in planning and applying a mode of telegraphic communication ; but, it is believed, without realizing much, if any, pecuniary profit.
NATHANIEL CHANDLER, was brother of John Chandler, jun., above mentioned. He occupied for many years the house and
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store which had belonged to his father. He was subject to depres- sion of mind; but, in company, was generally in high spirits, expressing himself in metaphors and hyperboles, which were often original and peculiarly striking. Being remarkable also for his intimate acquaintance with the statistics of his times, lie was able at once to engage the attention, and to impart instruction. (See . page 81.)
JOIIN JACKSON was the son of James Jackson; studied for the ministry with Rev. Judah Nash, of Montague ; was settled for a few years in Gill; and was represented to be an Arminian in theological opinion. He removed to Canada after his dismission, and officiated for some years in an Episcopal church. He died at an advanced age.
WILLIAM WARD, a classmate of Mr. Jackson, was a son of Capt. Elisha Ward ; studied law; settled in Shutesbury ; but was obliged to resort to other means than the profits of his office for a part of his support.
PAUL GROUT, a brother of Jonathan Grout, jun., early went to one of the Middle States (Maryland, it is believed), where he soon died.
GEORGE GROUT, brother of Jonathan, jun., and Paul, went to the South also, and did not long survive.
THOMAS BARRON was a son of William Barron, Esq., and brother of William A. Barron, above noticed. He studied law with Hon. Stephen R. Bradley, in Westminster, Vt., but did not con- tinue many years in the practice. He was for some time in Eng- land ; and, after his return, went to Ohio, where he probably died in 1830 or '31, -as he was then in a feeble state of health, and his nearest friends have not been able to learn any thing of him since. He had no family.
ELISHA HAMMOND was a son of Ebenezer Hammond, and was born in the south-west part of Petersham. It is believed that he went to the South as a teacher. Hon. J. H. Hammond, late Go- vernor of South Carolina, is said to be his son.
SAMUEL WILLARD, son of Dea. William Willard, studied for the ministry ; was settled in Deerfield, Sept. 23, 1807, and resigned his charge on the twenty-second anniversary. Though he has been for many years wholly deprived of siglit, he has occasionally officiated in pulpits on the Sabbath, and still survives honored and loved among the flock of his former pastorship.
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For the foregoing facts relative to college-gradutes, I am chiefly indebted to the Rev. Dr. Willard, the last named.
DANIEL BIGELOW, jun., was a son of Hon .. Daniel Bigelow. Whether he studied a profession, we do not know. He went to the State of Ohio, and there died.
LEWIS BIGELOW. See page 77.
ABIATHAR HOPKINS was the son of Samuel Hopkins, who lived in the south part of the town. He studied law, and opened an office in Harrisburg, Pa., where he was successful for a number of years. He died, while on a visit to his native town, on the 27thi of September, 1821, at the age of forty years.
HUTCHINS HAPGOOD was the second son of Hutchins Hapgood. In the winter vacation of his Sophomore year, he was accidentally shot in Petersham Woods. By this event, his left arm was so badly fractured that he never regained its full use. He was unable to unite with his class till the autumn of 1811. He began the study of law in November, 1814, with John Taylor, Esq., of Northamp- ton ; went to Cavendish, N. Y., July, 1815, where he finished his professional studies. He afterwards went into mercantile pursuits in the city of New York. His health failing, he relinquished his business in 1825 ; and died at Petersham, June 2, 1828. -- From manuscript of Rev. J. B. Felt, his classmate.
AARON BROOKS, jun., son of Major Aaron Brooks, studied law, and went into its practice in Petersham, in company with IIon. Lewis Bigelow. After Mr. Bigelow left town, he continued in an extensive and successful practice here till the time of his death, in May, 1845.
SAMUEL WARD CHANDLER, son of Nathaniel Chandler, Esq., engaged for some years in manufacturing business ; and is at pre- sent a lithographer in the city of Boston.
FISHER AMES FOSTER, son of Rev. Festus Foster, was educated for the Bar, and was for many years editor of the " Cincinnati Atlas.".
JOHN WELLS FOSTER, brother of the above, occupies a conspi- cuous place among the American scientific corps as United States Geologist for the Lake Superior Mining District.
GEORGE GROUT HAPGOOD, son of the late Eber Hapgood, taught an academical school a year or two in the State of New York ; entered the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in
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1832, and is now Presiding Elder of Syracuse District, Black River Conference, and resides in Oswego.
DANIEL BIGELOW PARKHURST, son of William Parkhurst, M.D., and grandson of Hon. Daniel Bigelow, studied for the Chris- tian ministry in the Theological School of Harvard University ; and at the close of his preparatory studies, not being strong in health, went to Savannah, Ga., in the autumn of 1840, to pass the winter. He returned early in the following spring, and was settled over the First Congregational Society in Deerfield, Mass., on the 21st of July, 1841. Excepting only the precariousness of his health, the auspices attending his settlement were all of the hap- piest kind. He preached to his people, however, but four and a half sabbaths, and survived his settlement only seven months. He died at Keene, N. II., whither he had gone for medical treatment, on the 16th of February, 1842, leaving his flock in deep grief at the sudden blight which had fallen on their hopes.
CHARLES G. GODDARD, son of Ashbel Goddard, studied divinity after leaving college, and was settled over a society in East Hart- land, Conn., about three years, when he gave up preaching on account of poor health, and removed to East Windsor Hill, where he has been principal teacher in a seminary established at that place.
FRANCIS AUGUSTUS BROOKS, son of Aaron Brooks, jun., Esq., studied law, and began its practice in his native town in 1845. He removed to Boston in January, 1848, and remains in the practice of his profession in that city.
ANDREW J. WHEELER, son of Col. Josiah Wheeler, graduated from college with unusual honors, and gave promise of distin- guished success and usefulness in the profession which he had chosen, -that of the ministry. But his health was already declin- ing when his collegiate course was ended, and he died the year following, greatly lamented.
Besides those who have graduated from colleges; there have been several natives of the town, who have been par- tially educated in these institutions, but who have not com- pleted a full course : -
WILLIAM SPENCER PRENTICE was nearly three years a mem- ber of Harvard College. He studied theology afterwards for a
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year; but, on account of poor health, abandoned the life of a student, and went, some time later, to one of the Western States, where he has held the office of Judge of Probate, and, it is believed, other offices of responsibility.
GEORGE AUGUSTUS HOUGHTON very nearly completed a full course of study in Dartmouth College ; he left during his senior year, on account of ill health. He commenced the study of law, but soon after went to the West, and resided for some years in St. Louis, Mo. Returning to Massachusetts, he held the office of Secretary of the Commercial Insurance Company, in Boston, for five years. He is at present Cashier in the office of the City Trea- sury, Boston.
NELSON BROOKS, son of Aaron Brooks, sen., was for a time a member of Amherst College ; he died young.
EDMUND B. WILLSON was for a short time in Yale College ; studied for the ministry; and has been settled in Grafton and West Roxbury, Mass.
CHARLES K. WETHERELL was a member of Yale College for a time ; studied law ; practised a few years in Petersham, and re- moved thence to Barre, where he now pursues his profession.
J. SUMNER SANDERSON was in Amherst College two years ; left on account of sickness.
There are as many as six natives of the town now in various colleges ; and quite a number of others have gone from families in this town to obtain a collegiate education, though not natives.
M. - PAGES 66 and 84.
MISCELLANEOUS. ITEMS.
Besides the foregoing notes, which have been immediately suggested by passages in the preceding Address, some other facts, which have been incidentally collected in the course of its preparation, it is thought may be worthy of preservation here as possessing an interest for such as are curious in mat- ters connected with the town's history.
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APPEARANCE AND CONDITION OF PETERSHAM IN THE LATTER PART OF THE LAST CENTURY.
Wishing to reproduce as far as possible a picture of the appearance of this town, as it was fifty or sixty years since, I appealed to the Rev. Dr. Willard, of Deerfield, to give me some of the reminiscences of his boyhood. I have been kindly furnished by him with the following enumeration and description of the houses as he remembers them in his early youth (mostly those within a mile of the meeting-house). I cannot do better than employ his own words : -
" Of all the houses in Petersham prior to the year 1790, I think it would be safe to affirm that there were not more than fifteen or eigliteen that were ever painted; and, of these, not one was of ligliter color than yellow ochre. Five or six were painted with Spanish brown ; viz., that which was successively owned by Mr. Lyndes, Daniel Bigelow, Esq., his son Lewis, and Seth Hapgood, Esq .; that on the west side of the Common, built by William Peckham, afterwards owned by Dr. Bridge ; that of the elder John Stowell ; Capt. Parmenter's, near the division of the road, a mile south of the meeting-house ; Joseph Gleason's, the elder, a mile west of the meeting-house ; Samuel Bryant's, in the easterly part of the town ; and, I think, Col. Grout's, on the road to Athol. The yellow houses were, the old part of the house next above the Bell schoolhouse, on the west, then belonging to the Rogers Family ; the. house of Jolin Chandler, Esq., the elder, near his store ; that which was called " the tan-yard house," also belonging to him ; that which is now occupied by Dr. Parkhurst ; and the one immediately opposite, which was owned by Capt. Jolin Peckham, and his son Robert ; and that which was then owned by John Wilder, in the east part of the town, and is now occupied by Col. Josiah White. If other houses had been painted, they had become of nearly the same color with timber tarnished by the weather.
" In the times of which I am speaking, there were no clusters of houses. From Chandler's store on the east side of the street, there were only five houses for about a mile and a half, ending at . Mr. Stowell's, excepting a small tenement of one room, which was
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soon demolished, and another dwelling, in which the house was united with a tannery, and was soon after converted into a pottery. Those houses were my father's, now my brother's ;* the house afterwards owned and occupied by John Chandler, jun .; Ivory Holland's, a little south-east of Dr. Whitney's, afterwards Thomas Hapgood's ; Nathan Wheeler's, opposite to Esquire Bigelow's ; and Robert Peckham's. The house now belonging to Jared Weed, Esq., was built in 1784 or '5, as I know from the fact that one of my brothers at the raising fell into the cellar, struck the back of his head on a stone, and when taken up was supposed to be dead, but afterwards recovered. Mr. Maccarty's house was built some years afterwards.
" In the same distance, on the west side, there were about ten houses : the bevelled-roofed house opposite my father's [where Col. Doolittle had lived] ; the one opposite to that of Jolin Chandler, jun. ; the "tan-yard house," so called ; that which was successively owned by Dr. Whitney and the Hapgoods ; Esquire Bigelow's ; the one on the opposite corner, in which dwelling and store or shiop were combined; the old tavern-house, north of the church, then called the Winslow House ; that on the west side of the Common [Mr. Jonas How's] ; a low house at the south-eastern corner of the Common, belonging to Josiah Peckham; what is now Dr. Park- hurst's; and the old mansion of Rev. Mr. Whitney, which gave place to the larger house built by Mr. Reed.
" From the old Stowell House to the south end of the three-miles street, there were, I think, only two dwellings ; one belonging to Joab Stowell, and the other to Benjamin Chandler.t. Mr. Reed's house was built about the year 1788, perhaps a year or two after or before. The old mansion of Mr. Whitney, which stood three or four rods farther to the west, and two or three farther to the southi, continued in being several years after, and was inhabited part of the time by Joseph Smith, a tailor, whose widow died in North- field at the close of 1738, or beginning of '39, in her hundred and first year.
* Dea. Cephas Willard's.
t This Mr. Chandler seems to have given himself and the town some uneasiness, on the subject of roads. In a warrant for a town-meeting, to be held in 1779, was an article : "To hear the request of Benjamin Chandler respecting a road through his land, and for the town to alter the same as they may think bost ; or make him casy in such manner as he may not plague the selectmen any more."
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"On the road leading to the west from the house successively owned by Samuel Peckham, Samuel Cutler,* Festus Foster, and Dr. Parkhurst, there was, in my early recollections, only one house for nearly or quite a mile, - that of Jonathan Hunter. Martin Rice afterwards built a house a hundred rods, more or less, from Dr. Parkhurst's.
" On the road leading from the same point easterly to the upper mill, there were four houses : one owned, and I believe inhabited, by the Maccarty family ; one by Ebenezer Winslow, and after- wards by Simon Whitney; one at the corner, formed by the east- ern road and a lane running towards the south, owned and occupied by Philip Spooner, and afterwards by his grandson, Clapp. Spooner ; and that which belonged to Ruggles Spooner, about half-way to the mill. The road leading from Ruggles Spooner's directly to the meeting-house was not laid till near the close of the century, and, I think, remained without any dwelling-house upon it for twelve or fifteen years.
"On the road leading from the meeting-house towards New Salem, the old house belonging to Joseph Gleason, the elder, was the third ; the other two being that of Capt. Wing Spooner, and that of Dea. Amos Stone.
"On the parallel road running west from Esquire Bigelow's, there were only two houses for more than a mile: one within about fifty rods of the street, successively occupied by various tenants, and that of David Stone, the elder.
"On the lane running north-westerly from Hapgood's tan-yard, there were two houses, - Luther Holland's, and Capt. Ebenezer Bragg's.
" These, I think, were all the houses within a mile of the church, on the roads in various directions, prior to the erection of the three-story house between the old tavern and the Common. Pos- sibly I may have forgotten one or two. The house owned and occupied by William Clark was a cooper's shop, erected for the accommodation of Chandler's pearlash, and was afterwards moved and fitted for a dwelling.
" In early times, Petersham was the thoroughfare for teams passing with merchandise from Boston through Sudbury, Shrews- bury, Holden, Rutland, and Barre, to Athol, Orange, Warwick,
* Kept as a public house by Peckham and Cutler.
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Northfield, and the south-eastern part of Vermont. On this road there were four taverns in Petersham : that of Bryant's, in the eastern part of the town ; Rogers's and Dean's, near the Bell schoolhouse ; and Capt. Elisha Ward's, at the North End. Rogers's and Dean's were on the opposite sides of the street ; and I well remember that Dean's sign was somewhat emblematic of what a tavern should be, viz., a tea-kettle hung from the arm of the post.
" In the early times of which I am speaking, the grounds and fences about the houses were universally in a rude state; for instance, those of John Chandler, Esq., were very nearly as nature left them, excepting that the trees had been cut away, and heavy teams constantly passed across the corner of what is now the front- yard, between the house and store. It was not till about.1787 or '8 that the terraces were formed, and the grounds enclosed with a handsome fence ; and yet Mr. Chandler was probably the first man in Petersham, both in wealth and taste. As an evidence of taste, I need only advert to the fact, that he had a park for deer, comprising seventy acres, more or less, and encompassed with a zigzag or Virginia fence, ten or twelve rails high, sufficient, as was supposed, to prevent, on the one hand, the escape of deer, and, on. the other, the intrusion of wolves and dogs. To say nothing of pre- paring the timber, the labor and cost of lifting such an amount of rails to such a height must have been great, when we consider that the whole extent of the fence was something like a mile and a half. . . . This fence remained at its full height for several years."
REVOLUTIONARY SOLDIERS.
" A muster-roll of Capt. John Wheeler's company as minute-men, commanded by Col. Ephraim Doolittle, from the 19th of April, 1775, as libertines to the cause they are now in."
They were allowed 1d. a mile for travel. Those marked * were paid for one hundred and forty miles travel, - about the distance to and from Cambridge. Those marked + were in Capt. Joel Fletcher's company in camp at Winter Hill, Charlestown, Oct. 6, 1775, - Col. Doolittle's regiment. Those marked # were in Capt. Jonathan Holman's company
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in camp at the same time and place, and belonging to the same regiment : -
+John Wheeler, Captain.
*Edw. Barker [or Bowker], Lieut.
ĮJohn Bowker, Ensign [Lieutenant in October].
#Thos. Davenport, Sergeant.
*John Holland, "
John Rogers, „
*Joel Doolittle,
#Thad. Houghton, Corporal.
#Israel Houghton.
#Caleb Perry.
David Perry.
#Thomas Wheeler, Drummer.
+Caleb Bryant, Fifer.
+Aaron Allen.
+Bezile Amsdel [Bezaleel Ams- den ?].
*Sam. Bryant.
*Thomas Bouker.
ĮEzekiel Bouker.
+Nat. Bozworth.
*David Clarke.
* Reuben Cummings.
+Ephraim Claflin.
+David [Daniel}] Claflin.
+John Finney [" Fiendly " or Find- lay ?].
*Benjamin Ganson.
*Joanna [?] Gallen.
*Peter Gore. Luther Holland.
*Phazez [{] Houghton.
*Silvanus How.
*John How.
¿Jacob Houghton.
+Henry W. Hunt.
*James Hawkes.
*Thos. Jackson.
+Benj. Knapp.
*Dan'l Mills [Miles }].
#Joab Mills [ Miles ?].
William Peckham.
*Eph. Bill .. Amos Bill.
John Bill.
* Luke Bill.
* Abel Rogers.
ĮJabez Spear.
*Dav. Sanderson.
*Eph. Sterns.
+John Stores [Stowell }].
*Ruggles Spooner.
*Eliak[im] Spooner.
« Wing Spooner.
¿John Warden.
*John Wilder.
*Cornelius Wilder.
*Joseph Wilson.
Of Petersham men in Capt. Fletcher's company, besides those already mentioned and marked t, were the following : Jotham Houghton, Ebenezer Ingersoll, William Clements, Daniel Duncan, David Fling, Silas Harris (died July 7th), Stephen Hall, Robert Hill, Jonas Negus, Abel Wheeler.
Capt. Fletcher was of Templeton.
The following, besides those marked # on the preceding pages, were of Petersham, and in Capt. Holman's company : Martin Rice [fifer], David Bruce, Thomas Groce, Daniel
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Hastings, Isaac Palmer, Amos Rice, Ebenezer Wilson. Capt. Holman was of Templeton.
The staff-officers of Col. Doolittle's regiment were Col., Ephraim Doolittle, of Petersham ; Lieut .- Colonel, Benjamin Holden, of Princeton ; Major, Willard Moore, of Paxton ; Chaplain, Rev. Benjamin Balch, of Danvers ; Adjutant, John Woodward, of Westminster ; Quartermaster, Benjamin How- ard, of Shrewsbury ; Surgeon, Enoch Dole, of Lancaster ; Surgeon's Mate, Nathan Burnap, of Hopkinton. - Document in office of Secretary of State.
Several of those above named, continued in the service through, or nearly through, the war. Some of these, and many other names, are on the town-books as having received money from the town in compensation for military service, or as having their taxes " sunk." Bounties and various encouragements were given to the soldiers who enlisted during the latter part of the war. It would appear from a vote of the town, adopted in September, 1778, that Lieut. John Wheeler had rendered services at Dorchester ; that Lieut. Stearns had been at Bennington six weeks, in 1777; and in June, 1782, Jos. Smith asked the town to pay him the value of a gun which he lost " at Bunker Hill fight."
SLAVES.
The number of slaves in Petersham was never very large. There appear to have been none in 1754. Ten years later, there were eight. Kenelm Winslow, who kept the tavern, had two or three ; one of them -Tack by name - appears to have been quite a public character. Earl Flagg had one ; Wil- liam Barron, one ; Andrew Dalrymple, one ; Daniel Spooner, one ; Elisha Ward, one. It is mentioned in Rev. Mr. Clarke's Centennial Sermon at Athol, that a negro boy, named Titus, was given to Rev. Mr. Humphrey, the first minister of Athol, by Rev. Mr. Whitney, of Petersham. He died in Mr. Humphrey's family, Nov. 7, 1773, at the age of three years and a half. At his funeral, his late master
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preached a sermon from this text : "The small and the great are there, and the servant is free from his master."
CASUALTIES, EPIDEMICS, ETC.
Mr. Jotham Houghton, living on Chimney Hill, being absent with Mrs. Houghton from their house one evening, and their children being left in it, it took fire, and was burned together with the inmates. The number of children that perished is differently stated by different narrators ; the lowest number given by any, being two ; the highest, four.
The small-pox visited Petersham in the winter of 1760-61. Stephen Hall died of it. Two Province soldiers had it.
In September, 1776, the town voted to allow an inocu- lation hospital for the small-pox, which was afterwards appointed to be at Mr. Frederick Rogers's. Ephraim Wool- son (sometimes titled Esq., and sometimes Dr.) was " pre- ferred to superintend the business." In the following spring, the hospital was voted to be discontinued, " by a great ma- jority."
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